That bit of data comes from a new NPD Group report, which says that smartphones market share reached 28 percent in Q2 of 2009, up 47 percent over the last year.

Which isn’t a shock, since the phones continue to get better and cheaper–remember when Apple’s (AAPL) first iPhone cost $600, all the way back in 2007? And all sorts of players, from mom-and-pop software developers to manufacturers like Palm, (PALM) have bet their business on the notion that one day not that far from now, nearly every phone will be a smartphone.

But in the meantime, “feature phones,” the plain vanilla handsets that you almost never read about on this site or any other tech-focused publication, continue to dominate the market, which continues to expand. NPD says sales volume increased 18 percent, revenue increased 18 percent, and the average sales price for new phones increased four percent, to $87 a pop.

[Image credit: cod_gabriel]

The site is the work of Peter Rojas, who helped build Gizmodo and Engadget, and Ryan Block, who took the torch from Rojas after he moved on. Gizmodo and Engadget are the best known and most powerful of the new generation of gadget sites, which makes Rojas and Block revered by the gadget gang. That’s why we’ve been hearing about gdgt, in dribs and drabs, for many many months.

But as well known as Rojas and Block are, they’re still going to have to work hard to make a dent in the crowded field. In addition to the two blogs they created, the gadget spectrum includes everyone from staid players like CBS’s (CBS) CNET to rumor sites for Apple (APPL) obsessives, like MacRumors, to sites for real obsessives, like the handful of people who still own Palm (PALM) Treos. (And, of course, there’s All Things Digital’s Walt Mossberg, who bestrides all of this like the colossus he is, and is also my boss. Hi, Walt!)

Rojas and Block argue that their site is different because it’s not going to be driven by editors but by the site’s users, who will gather there to swap info, stories, rumors, opinions, etc. In other words, Facebook for gadgets, though I gather they’d recoil if they heard that. The other pitch, though they won’t spell this out, either: Their site takes a bunch of features and content that you can find other places and presents them in a better way.

There’s a bunch of nifty features, like a gadget-finder that lets you find products via specs instead of brands, and the site seems to be pretty slick. But it’s better if you have a look yourself instead of having me describe it. And gdgt.com won’t really hit its stride until actual users start using it. I look forward to hearing what they have to say about my upcoming phone dilemma: iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre or Blackberry Tour?

But as much as Rojas and Block argue that this is a community site, it’s their names and reps that have people interested in the project. And that’s what has convinced investors to plow money into an ad-supported Web site in an era when the economy sucks and there are way too many ad-supported Web sites.

The duo won’t discuss funding, but I’m told that last fall they were discussing investments of up to $1 million, but ended up taking less than that via a group of VCs and angel investors. I don’t have a complete list of investors, but people familiar with the company tell me that early-stage investor True Ventures led the round, which also included New York-based incubator Betaworks and Mahalo’s Jason Calacanis.

Calacanis’s name will resonate with longtime followers of the tech blog world: He was one of the founders of Weblogs Inc., which created Engadget as a rival to Gawker Media’s Gizmodo, and hired Rojas away from Gizmodo. Calacanis eventually sold Weblogs Inc. to Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL for a decent pile of cash, some of which I believe ended up in Rojas’s lap.

Click the image below to see a screenshot of what gdgt’s homepage ought to look like.

The one exception to the drought: Companies that have something, anything, to do with mobile. The Jordan, Edmiston Group says deal volume increased 45 percent over the last year, and the value of those deals leapt by 38 percent.

Granted, we’re talking about fairly small numbers to begin with–the bank counted 16 mobile deals in the first half of this year, compared to 11 a year ago–but it still seems telling, and right. We’ve been hearing about the inevitable rise of mobile as an advertising, content and commerce platform for years, but in the last year or so, this now seems plausible, due in large part to the adoption of smartphones from the likes of Research in Motion (RIMM), Apple (APPL), and, perhaps, even Palm (PALM).

One unexpected result from the test Piecyk’s tests suggest that older iPhones running on the new iPhone operating system may actually be a bit slower. And yes, I checked with Piecyk–the tests were performed using AT&T (T)’s network, with Wi-Fi turned off, in midtown Manhattan.

But wait! That’s not all! Piecyk also puts the Palm Pre through its paces against the new iPhone and says (pretty hard to tell on this clip) that the Palm (PALM) phone offers a better version of clips from Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. Piecyk’s thesis: Sprint (S) is sending a less compressed version of the YouTube files to the Pre then AT&T sends to the iPhone.

And there are lots of marketers trying their best to ignore technology and keep their ads as dumb as possible. Example: Sprint’s email to me this morning trying to convince me to sign a new contract so I can snag a free “Katana Eclipse X” from Sanyo. Here’s the pitch (click to enlarge):

Nothing against the Katana Eclipse X, by the way. I’m sure it’s a fine phone. But here’s the thing: Sprint (S) has my email address because I am a customer. I’ve been one for a decade. And so Sprint knows that:

• I own a BlackBerry 8830, and that…
• I spend $100 a month for an all-you-can eat plan (plus another $60 a month for a broadband wireless card!), and that…
• My contract expires in a couple of weeks.

So if I were Sprint, I’d be trying very hard to convince me not to ditch the company for AT&T (T) and Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone 3G S, which looks awesome.

And again, nothing against the Katana, which is apparently available in “Nightlife Black and Hypnotic Pink.” But it’s no BlackBerry, and it’s no iPhone. And it’s not a Pre, the phone that Sprint and Palm (PALM) are positioning  to compete against those two.

But I’ve yet to get an email from Sprint telling me that the Pre exists–perhaps the company hopes that I’ll be wowed by its new woman-friendly TV ads. Or what about Research in Motion’s (RIMM) new “Tour,” which is coming out this summer and looks great? Nope. Had to learn about that one by reading a blog.

So while I worry that I’ll regret typing this, here goes: Dear Sprint: You know where I live, what I own and how much I spend. You know I’m a free agent at the end of the month. Want to keep me? Start pitching.

Note the nice shout out for Internet radio darling Pandora, by the way. Is there any mobile handset or carrier that doesn’t promote the music service?

So who’s going to emerge as the winner? Easy, says analyst Mark Mahaney: It’s Google (GOOG).

But Mahaney, Citigroup’s (C) longtime Internet guy, isn’t talking about Google’s smartphone platform. He’s talking about Google’s core search business, which he thinks is finally about to see significant lift from mobile users.

It’s a straightforward thesis: As more people use smartphones, which are essentially portable computers that happen to make phone calls, they’ll start using them to do the things that people do with conventional computers — like search.

Our simple point here is that Mobile Internet usage, Mobile Search usage, and Mobile Google Search usage are all likely to be derivative beneficiaries of the “Smartphone Summer.” The So-What here is that Mobile Internet is beginning to emerge as a material Secular Growth driver for GOOG.  And getting back to the basic Core drivers of Google’s financial model, we believe this will show up in the form of consistently robust Paid Click growth in 2010 and beyond.

Want to see actual numbers before you buy into this? Fair enough: Google, like a lot of its peers, has been making a lot of noise about mobile with little to show for it so far. But if it is able to deliver, then the company may finally have that second business it’s always pined for.

But COO (and temporary CEO) Tim Cook’s dismissal of the netbook market will continue to spark speculation that the company is readying something that sits in between a laptop and an iPhone (which is itself a computer, of course). Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer got more of Cook’s response than I did so I’ll reprint his quote here:

“When I look at what is being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience and not something we would put the Mac brand on. So it’s not a space–as it exists today–that we’re interested in, nor do we believe that customers in the long term would be interested in. That said, we do look at the space and are interested in how customers respond to it. People who want a small computer than does browsing and email might want to buy an iPod touch or iPhone. We play indirect basis. Then of course if we find a way where we can deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, then we’ll do that. We have some interesting ideas in this space.”

EARLIER:

Apple (AAPL) just turned in a strong quarter and followed it up with conservative guidance. A fairly typical performance for the company. Now investors will want to know about new product lines, Steve Jobs’s health and other matters. I’ll be covering the call live. Please refresh this page for the most current information. Click here if you want to listen in yourself.

Joining call now. Tim Cook CFO Peter Oppenheimer going over info that’s already in the release.

Mac products: 2.2 million Macs, a three percent decline year-to-year. Tough comparison from last year. But better than the seven percent drop in PC sales overall. “We feel very positive about our Mac performance.” Began and ended quarter with three-to-four weeks of Mac inventory.

iPod: People still buying ‘em! iPod touch selling well, and so are apps. Claims people like the new shuffle player. [Dubious about that]. We own the MP3 player market. [Duh.] Began and ended the quarter with four-to-six weeks of inventory.

iTunes store: 35,000 apps available in store, up from 15,000 a quarter ago. “We are within hours” of one billions app downloaded.

iPhones: Unless I’m missing something, absolutely no new data here. Praising new iPhone 0S 3.0 that’s in the works. Apple delayed the start of revenue recognition of all iPhones sold after the company announced the new OS, which was March 17. Will start up again once OS is released.

Stores: Half our Macs sold to people who had never owned one before. Average revenue per store is down year over year, because the economy is lousy.

Gross margins: Commodity and other component costs lower than expected. Higher-margin sales better are also than expected. Apple also spent less on operating expenses than expected.

Guidance: Forecasting is “challenging” in macroenvironment. Again, noting delay in revenue recognition for iPhones (see above). Excited about new products in pipeline, etc.

Q&A

Outlook for pricing on component supply? Mostly favorable, but some commodities, like NAND, will increase sequentially. Cook does not expect to see the level of reduction seen in calendar Q1. Will it be down? It will be “in a similar range as last quarter.”

Cash flow issues? Not really, for several reasons: 1) Apple made prepayment to…. [sorry, I didn't catch who that was]; 2) accounts payable were down, from holiday quarter to spring quarter, which is standard; 3) at $1.3 billion, tax payments were up “significantly” from last year.

Mac business: Desktops selling well, but average selling price down quite a bit. What’s going on? Sales accelerated in March after Apple announced new product launch. Higher-end Pro products sold to professionals are down a bit, which is related to economy for obvious reasons. Education sales also down a bit, for same reasons. Hoping Federal stimulus funds will help with that.

Back to netbooks–why won’t Apple sell them? Cook is still criticizing netbooks. The ones available today are ”just not a consumer experience and not something we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly. It’s not a space today that we’re interested in, and it’s not a space we think that customers in the long-term are interested in.” But… a slight hedge with regard to smaller computers, which are, of course, what the iPhone and iPod Touch are. We “have interesting ideas in this space.” Today’s netbooks really shouldn’t even be called computers, really.

App store: What’s the mix between paid and free downloads and the iPod and iTouch mix? Nope. Apple won’t say. Again, Cook notes that we’re just “hours away” from the one billionth download. Cook: One of the keys behind the growth of iPod has been that sales of the iPod touch “more than doubled year-over-year.” The iPod and iPod Touch have reached sales of 37 million units, a big platform for developers. So there’s a virtuous cycle there.

[Sorry, missed two questions here.]

Why is Apple still doing an exclusive with AT&T for the iPhone? And how’s Steve Jobs? AT&T (T) is the best wireless provider in the U.S. “They have done a very good job with iPhone….We’re very happy with the relationship we have and do not intend to change it.” Structurally, we’re using GSM architecture, and Verizon (VZ) uses CDMA, and we wanted a world phone.

And Steve Jobs? Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer: “We look forward to Steve returning to Apple at the end of June.” [Translation: No news.]

[Yet another question missing here. Apologies.]

Any info on DRM-free/”iTunes plus” sales? Too early to tell.

How much impact did Wal-Mart (WMT) have on Apple sales? Very key partner for the iPod. The company believes Wal-Mart provides extended reach. Pleased with results, but “early going, and not much to report there yet.”

So many iPhone Apps. How can you make them easier to find on iTunes? (Same problem as music.) Any kind of unusual patterns? Nonanswer here.

Please talk about competition for smartphones–i.e., please discuss the Palm (PALM) Pre. “Difficult to comment on products that aren’t shipping. So there’s nothing intelligent I could say on the Pre.” But “we think we’re years ahead.” We see things through software lens and that has benefited us and customers very well. Power of device and ecosystem enormous and we’re now just scratching the surface.”

What about suing Palm re: patents on the Pre, etc.? “We think that Apple’s innovation is leading the industry by years. We think competition is great; we think it makes all of us better as long as other companies invent their own stuff.”

Palm (PALM) said it lost 89 cents a share–or 86 cents a share after excluding one-time charges–on sales of $96 million. Those numbers are roughly what Wall Street had expected, since Palm had already warned earlier this month that revenues would be bad, and that it would experience “continued margin pressure from its legacy product lines” for a while longer. Smartphone revenue was $77.5 million, down 72 percent year-over-year.

But both Palm and Wall Street have pretty much shut the book on the old company, and its old phones, like the Treo. The future of the Palm, for better or worse, is the Pre, its to-be-released wonderphone that Palm is positioning as a competitor to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and Research in Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerrys.

But even here, Palm isn’t quite sure what to say about the phone it’s staked its future on. Last week, it had  to tell investors to disregard Palm investor Roger McNamee’s Pre hyperbole–specifically about its ability to unseat Apple’s iPhone.

Why is this news? Well, it’s not, really. Except that McNamee is one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors–Elevation is the company betting big on a revival of Palm (PALM). And… how to put this politely… his hair, which had gotten really, really long lately, had been freaking people out.

You can get a sense of just how long it had been via this interview that Kara Swisher conducted earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

And, it turns out, McNamee knew his hair looked odd, too. He says that growing his hair was a political statement, and that cutting it was an act of charity–he has given 14 inches of the stuff to Locks of Love, a nonprofit that creates hairpieces for sick children. He explains it on a Facebook post:

My hair was a protest against the most mean spirited, incompetent administration in my lifetime. Giving to Locks of Love allows me to end the protest on a positive note on a positive night.”

See what you can learn via social media?

One question remains: What does McNamee look like now? I asked him for a new picture of himself, and he sent back these “before” and “after” shots.

Which are funny, but not satisfying. Anyone want to send in a bona fide pic? We’ll reward you with a grateful shout-out.

I’ll let the gadget pros assess the operating system and the Pre, the first phone that will feature it, once they’ve actually had a chance to play with them. But my first impression is that the phone incorporates a lot of iPhone-like features and flourishes–primarily the multi-touch screen and gesture system for manipulating data–but boasts a keyboard. That’s promising.

I’ll also note that the Palm folks spent very little time on the phone’s audio-visual capabilities, so it doesn’t look like they’re trying to take on Apple (AAPL) there. And there was no talk about corporate email compatibility–they’re clearly not shooting for the hardcore BlackBerry user, either.

The biggest unknown is price, which went unmentioned during the demo. My assumption is that Palm (PALM) would try to take market share by coming in significantly lower than the $200 or so Apple wants for its iPhone. But when I ran that theory by Palm CEO Ed Colligan, he looked at me liked I’d peed on his rug. “Why would we do that when we have a significantly better product,” he asked, then walked away.

Translation: Bargain hunters are going to be disappointed.

EARLIER Real-time notes from the Palm press conference:

Here’s former Apple exec and current Palm executive chairman Jon Rubinstein, with the windup pitch: Not enough to just have a good phone. Need good applications, too. Now here’s CEO Ed Colligan explaining why Palm can pull this off: “Mobile is in our DNA. We do mobile. That’s all we do.”

Still in windup mode: Colligan explaining history of the smartphone. Now explaining that today’s smartphone user has lots of stuff on the Web.

This is a new platform, “from the ground up.” It will be cloud-centric, not desktop-centric. Name: “Palm WebOS.”

Built with developers in mind: “If you know HTML, CSS and javascript, you can develop applications for this platform. That’s it.”

Back to Rubinstein, to applause. “It is my pleasure to show you the new Palm Pre.” Big applause as he holds up a gadget with a 3.1-inch touchscreen display with multi-touch capabilities. First impression: Looks like an iPhone with love handles.

For the gearheads: EvDo, Wi-Fi, 8GB, GPS. Bluetooth, 3-megapixel camera with flash. (John Paczkowski chimes in via IM: “Dude, 3 megapixel camera with flash is KILLER. I don’t know why apple hasn’t done that.”) “By popular demand” can remove back and replace battery (knowing applause).

Slide-out QWERTY keyboard. (Applause).

Now for actual demo:

Contacts scroll back and forth with iPhone-like gestures. There’s also a “gesture area” that sits below the screen, so you can manipulate data, photos, etc., without touching screen. So far: This is an iPhone with an extra gesture area. This is a compliment, by the way. More gestures bells and whistles.

Now demoing a new “deck of cards” metaphor that replaces the desktop for getting access to stuff on your phone. “How’s that for some real newness, hmm?” More applause.

Running through email, contacts, IM. All connected via “synergy.” Unclear whether Palm is trying to trademark that term, but they’ve referred to it throughout the demo. One messaging app for all your applications: SMS text and IM threaded together.

More multi-touch, zooming, pinching, etc. Like an iPhone. Screen rotates if you turn device sideways. Like an iPhone. Can use “gesture area” to flick around screen without getting in way of screen. Unlike an iPhone.

Glancing discussion of music player. But not playing up audio-visual à la iPhone. No mention of video at all so far. Real focus has been on UI and playing cards metaphor.

Back to Rubinstein, showing off a very cool gadget: Touchstone, a magnetized conductive charger.

Colligan on how phone fits in marketplace: Not just for work. Not just for play–“can do video and music and its fun to play with.” But again, they haven’t highlighted video and music.

Exclusive launch partner: Sprint (S). I hope the EVDO works better than my Sprint broadband card is performing today. Here’s Sprint CEO Dan Hesse: Stressing how Pre will be comfortable for “first-time users.” You can see where this is going: Palm isn’t trying to convert iPhone (or BlackBerry) users here. It’s trying to nab someone who doesn’t have a smartphone yet.

Hesse citing praise from Gizmodo, a “very well-respected Web site” re download speeds. I’ve seen so many Dan Hesse TV ads that its a little disconcerting to see him live. But he looks pretty much the same in real time as he does in black and white, strolling around Manhattan in an overcoat.

Hesse promises to have Sprint staff available to help users figure out how to use this thing. “We expect that the Palm Pre is going to be an iconic and in-demand device.” Taking pre-registrations now at Sprint.com.

Colligan: Available first half of 2009, “as soon as possible.” Not certified yet.

Here’s a new partner: Facebook. COO Sheryl Sandberg takes the stage. Now this is synergy: Sandberg’s brother-in-law is Marc Bodnick, a top exec at Palm investor Elevation Partners. Unless I’m missing something, there’s nothing exclusive in the Facebook/Palm relationship, though; Sandberg simply promises that Facebook mobile will continue to evolve and that she’s looking forward to working with Palm.

Colligan wrapping up. Praising Rubinstein, whom he brings back on stage. And we’re done. Back in a minute.

(Bear with me as I cover this live–my Sprint broadband card is giving me a very narrow Web connection today. Here’s Palm’s official real-time take on its own product, via its own blog.)

In October, Mahalo.com founder Jason Calacanis laid off staff at his human-powered search engine. Then he announced he was hiring engineers for a mysterious new “Project A.”

Today he’s unveiling it: An “answers” service designed to compete with one of Yahoo’s most successful sites.

Like Yahoo Answers, Mahalo’s new product relies on users to answer other users’ questions. Unlike Yahoo’s (YHOO) site, Calacanis promises to give his most prolific answer-givers a chance to make money, via a virtual currency they can earn by answering questions.

The proposition: Users can ask questions for free. But they can also buy “Mahalo Dollars” using real money and reward people who answer their queries. Users can eventually cash out the Mahalo currency they earn for real dollars, with Calacanis taking a 25 percent cut.

This aligns him with a growing number of Internet execs who think they can make money via virtual goods and currencies. That’s worked well for Asian companies and a handful of Western videogames, like Activision Blizzard’s (ATVI) World of Warcraft. But the market for virtual stuff has yet to appear at most U.S.-based Web sites.

Still, Calacanis thinks he’s got a better shot of making it work next year than his original plan for 2009: Selling ads on his site besides the ones he runs from Google’s (GOOG) AdSense. “I think it’s going to be very hard to make money selling ads,” he said. “The market needs this more than it needs us out there trying to sell inventory.”

All of this supposes that people are actually willing to pay for advice they get over the Internet. I’m dubious, but then again I had no idea Yahoo Answers was as successful as it was until Calacanis walked me through the user stats in his demo*: 24 million unique users in the U.S., according to Quantcast.

I did try it out myself, and found that Calacanis’s beta users (who are presumably incented to answer as many questions as they can) did a decent job of answering my query about moving my Palm data to my BlackBerry via my MacBook–and much better than the people at Yahoo Answers and Answers.com, who didn’t even try.

But it’s still not good enough. Looks like if I want to get this done I’m going to have to pay someone real cash.

*A note for anyone who ever has to demo a product: Find some way to watch Calacanis go through his paces live if you can. You can get a sense of the experience by reading his tutorial, or by watching video of him in action. But it’s another thing to get it in real time, and watch him simultaneously hype and soft-sell. Really effective stuff.

[Image Credit: Joi Ito]